Sweet
by Wandering to her doom
Summary: Traveling with the cabin group has been anything but easy... but at least it's getting a little better for Clementine. (Clementine and Luke FRIENDSHIP, no shipping. For someone on DA)


Walking dead fanfic for someone on DA, I don't own anything. :)

Tired legs trudged their way up yet another steep hill, the once chilly breeze of the autumn weather was becoming sharper and colder with each passing day. Clementine's teeth couldn't help but chatter at the coldness in the air, Christa was right... winter was coming, and it would certainly be a pain in the neck to deal with. She has been traveling with this group for days, trying to flee from this man known as Carver, the group had said little to none about him, but he did come off as a greasier than motor oil shady character. Her legs ached as Clementine took another step, breathing in the sharp cold air of fading fall. She wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, she felt like collapsing. She needed food, water, a good hour or two of rest...but Carlos and Luke were dead set on trying to not waste what little food and water they had on them, and most of that had to go to Rebecca with the whole eating for two thing, and they had to get as far away from the cabin as possible. Trying to take her mind off the daunting task of reaching the top of hill her eyes peered around to her fellow travellers.

Alvin was walking alongside Rebecca, he haven't left Rebecca's side at all. He gave her his rations, shared his water, and was always voiced his concern of Rebecca needing to rest. Alvin was a swell guy, and would be a great father... Clementine could only hope Rebecca's child was his, he was a great guy.

"Tired?" Alvin asked noticing Clementine's glance. Silently cursing herself for having eye contact she shook her head.

"No." she lied, arms wrapping around herself for warmth. "Just cold."

"We might had some spare sweaters in one of the bags, I think either Luke or Carlos has them." Alvin replied. "Might be a little big on you, but it will keep the chill off."

"Yeah..." Clementine said, averting her gaze back forward. She was too tired to talk, conversation seemed to just make her feel more and more weak and make her chest feel tighter and achy.

It was then the silence between the group was broken, Sarah paused once they reached the top of the hill.

"Uhhh..." she shuffled in her spot awkwardly. "Dad, I have to go to the bathroom." Sarah said to her father.

Carlos glanced at the woods, trees and bushes although offering plenty of ways to stay hidden for them it also offered that for walkers. "Alright... I'll take you in a second."

"We should make camp here. Plenty of ways the biters could get tangled in the woods, plus going up hill might slow them down." Luke suggested, setting his bag down."And it's getting dark, we could all use a rest." he dug through his blue coloured backpack and tossed a roll of toilet paper to Sarah. "Anyone else have to go? Best to do it now before it gets dark, and believe me, waking one of us up in the middle of the night isn't going to be pleasant."

"Then count me in," Rebecca said, Luke tossed a roll of toilet paper to her. "Having an six pound melon pressing on your bladder isn't all that joyful."

"What about you Clem?" Luke asked. "You okay for now?

"I'm fine." she replied through chattering teeth.

"You sure?" Clementine gave a nod. Luke turned to the rest of the group. "Then let's get ready, same as the last few days. We take turns keeping watch, if you're tired switch out, no trying to pull an all nighter to be tough."

Clementine finally dropped the weight of her backpack on the ground, relieved to have the burden of carrying canned goods, bottles of water, and a few books Sarah had given her to stall her boredom. Plopping herself down on a stump she dug through her bag and retrieved a hardcover novel from her bag. It was one of those fantasy novels about people with magical powers and various mythical creates such as dragons, mermaids, fairies, and many others. She never really been much of a reader or a TV watcher, she liked to make her own stories up when she was younger. She recalled tea parties with her friends where they pretended to be princesses and had their stuffed animals and dolls attend to as well. Drink imaginary tea, snack on cookies and other sweet their parents made or brought. It gave her a sense of nostalgia thinking back to much simpler times, days of sleepovers, school, warm beds, and hot chocolate topped off with whip cream and chocolate shavings. Now here she was... cold, hungry, a lack of platonic friendship, and certainly far from happy compared to the girl she was all those years ago.

As Carlos took Sarah and Rebecca out to the woods to attend to private duties and Luke got a fire going, she opened the book. It was certainly thick and would last her a good couple of weeks to finish. How Sarah managed to devourer these books within days was unknown to Clementine. With a sigh her eyes laid upon the small printed letters of the page she left off of the last time she read the novel. Removing the crumpled piece of scrap paper that served as a bookmark she began to read, allowing her mind to sift away to a new magical words of mythical creatures and people with amazing powers.

"Any good?" Lifting her gaze up from the literature she watched as Luke dug through a bag containing various canned goods. "Sarah says I should read the series, must be good if she got you reading it."

"Why wouldn't I?" she inquired. "There's not a lot to do when I'm not worried about being eaten alive."

"You know most kids, rather watch cartoons or play video games. Not like I could blame them, always did fancy a good button masher." he lifted two cans out from the bag. One a pea soup, the other a beef stew. "Pea soup or beef stew for tonight?"

Her nose crinkled in disgust, neither sounded appealing. In fact anything in a can was becoming less and less appealing to her, it all tasted the same with traces of a metallic taste of the can within the food. It was times like these she wished to savour a real meal, something that didn't come from a can. Fresh fruits, barbecued meats, bakery bread, and sweet and savoury homemade cookies still warm from the oven... she stopped thinking about the food far beyond her reach, it would just make tonight's meal harder to eat. Weighting the choices of a pea soup with the texture of slime or a beef stew that caused her to pounder if that was even real beef or just low quality.

"Beef stew..." she finally says.

"Good choice." Luke fetches the can opener and pours the beefy contains into a pot to heat up. "Might be a little less revolting if served warm for once."

"Still it's gonna taste like dog food..." Clementine pouts, watching Luke stir the stew over a fire.

"Well don't tell anyone but dog food might be a little healthier." he replied looking at the stew. "Fresh gravy, carrots, and peas my ass... at least with dog food we would all have shiny coats." This stale joke finally caused Clementine's thin lips to slowly cack smile and let out a weak chuckle. "Then there would be the issue of fleas."

"Don't we already have fleas to deal with?" Clementine groaned. Although nice and cozy compared to where she had spend her nights before in the past the beds and sofas in the cabin weren't exactly what she would call clean.

"Thanks for reminding me of that." Luke chuckled dryly, he continued to stir the stew.

Carlos returned with Sarah and Rebecca, once the stew was warm enough they fetched bowls and spoons from their bags and ate. Clementine had to admit, the food was more enjoyable while warm rather then cold and straight out of the can, but only slightly. It's mushy bits of meat and vegetables still made her feel like gagging from the texture. Her toes curled in her already too tight shoes as she swallowed another spoonful, trying her hardest not to gag in front of the others. The cabin group exchanged stories of their past lives, Rebecca boasted about her poker skills, Carlos told them odd stories about his patients during his days as a doctor, Nick, although clearly still mourning the loss of his uncle shared a tale... although he muttered it completely and avoided eye with anyone completely.

Sarah chatted to her about a new series she was reading, something about mermaids and spaceships. It confused her all with the complex sounding storyline and universe, but she dare not ask a question about it, that only led to more confusion. She just learned to nod and say yes. Soon the food was eaten and night had fallen upon them, the dimming orange sunset was replaced with an ink black sky,thousands of tiny stars twinkling in the sky, as well as a full moon. The dishes were cleaned and packed away, all they did now was huddle around the fire, masked in its fiery glow.

"I say we should hit the sack," Luke stated, poking the fire with a stick. "Biters might be more active in the morning, and I rather miss an hour of beauty sleep then wake up as one of them." he tossed the stick into the orange flames. "I'll volunteer to keep an eye on things, anyone else?"

Eerie glances were exchanged among them, true be told after seemingly endless walking a good night's sleep sounded too good to pass up. Clementine suspected they all had their reasons though. Rebecca was pregnant and Alvin didn't want to leave her side for a second, Carlos would most likely want to stay near Sarah throughout the night, Nick was still grieving over the lost of Pete. And then there was her, who did she have? No one to worry about, not Lee, not Omid, not Christa, Kenny, Carely, Duck, Katjaa, Ben, Lilly, or her parents... It seemed this made her most suitable for the task, despite yearning for a good night's rest.

"I'll stay up." she slowly raised her hand, it reminded of her school.

"You sure about that?" Carlos asked, his arm around Sarah. "We're be getting up fairly early."

"Someone has too." Clementine merely shrugged.

"Already then, blankets and sleeping bags are in the red and green bags, if me or Clem get too tired one of us will wake you up." Luke said. "Until then I suggest you all try to get a good night's rest."

It wasn't long before everyone but Luke and Clementine retired to their sleeping bags, blankets and pillows were rationed evenly among them. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep, they spend more then half of the day walking. Hugging her legs to her chest she glanced at the cabin group, all sound sleep with no sound coming from them aside from the occasional toss and turn.

"Here." Looking away from the group Luke was standing next to her, offering her a honey coloured blanket. "You cold? It's more or less winter now..."

She gave a small nod and brought her legs down as Luke draped the blanket around her. The fabric was less then pleasant, itchy... but it was warm at least.

"Thanks..." her voice was barely above a whisper, rather raw sounding. She concluded it was just from the cold weather setting in.

"No problem." he replied offering her a weak smile before sitting back down, wrapping himself in his own blanket. "Sorry bout the texture, fabric softener isn't something we usually keep an eye out for."

"Better then nothing."

"I suppose so." Luke glanced at the trees that clustered around them. "So... how is the group treating you now?"

"Okay I guess..." she shrugged. "Better then before."

"They were just worried about Carver, now that he knows where we used to be and all..." he trailed off, clearly he didn't want to dwell on the subject of Carver."But we can all agree it's best if you stay with us, and beside's, Sarah likes you." he picked at his rather grubby nails. "Gotta get around to asking her if I can read one of her books, I need something to do when I'm not busy trying to not get eaten."

"Her books are good, but the plot is confusing." Clementine's face scrunched up in confusion. "I can't tell if the pixies are the traitors or the vampires."

"Gee, thanks the spoilers."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Chances are I won't be get through all those pages anyway. Any free time I usually have I spend that resting." he stopped picking at his nails. "So... how are you holding up?"

Clementine needed a second to think on that. Just how was she? She was alive for sure, but she was cold, tired, still hungry, and her mood was utterly miserable. She simply shrugged her shoulders as her way of responding to his questions.

"I know how you feel." Luke said, as if Clementine had given him a verbal reply. "I'm living off of canned goods that either had gone bad or nearly there, wore the same shirt for weeks, and only recently stopped wiping my butt with poison ivy." he chuckled at that memory. "Should had paid more attention in Boy Scouts." he small yet amused sounding chuckle was then replaced with a dreary sigh. "I mean, I'm alive... and I guess that's what counts the most right now."

Clementine said nothing, but slowly nodded in agreement. She was grateful to be alive, and too everyone who kept her alive... but she couldn't help but be unhappy, she wondered if that made her sound ungrateful. She was alive when many others weren't, some were dead while others were doomed to the fate of roaming the world as a walker... she and the few that traveled alongside her were lucky to made it this far. She mentally cursed at herself for thinking in such a ungrateful manner. She didn't realize that the expression on her face sadden, eye brows curved, lips formed a straight line, and her gaze shifted downwards.

"I take it you aren't too happy, grateful to be alive but... you know..." Luke trailed off.

"I miss Lee..." her fingers curled into a fist, chipped nails dug into the soft skin of her dirty palms, the memories of her former caretaker were rather bittersweet to her. On one hand she preserved the memory of Lee thinking about the happier times, the time he had pushed her on a swing, gave her half an apple, and protected her... but on the other hand thinking of him just made Clementine wish he was here.

"He was important to you... wasn't he?" her gaze lifted from the ground to Luke's sad face, she just nodded in response. "We all lost someone important to us..." he kicked a pebble.

"I know..." she should be used to it by now, she seen far more death then any normal child should, then anyone should really. She witness people getting shot, eaten alive by walkers, or dying in cruel unthinkable ways.

"It's hard..." Luke continued, letting out a sigh he rested his chin in his palm. "But we're alive, we made it this far... it must mean something, you know?"

"I guess..." Clementine yearned the change the subject, thinking of Lee or anyone else that she had once held dear to her heart would just make it so that she wouldn't sleep when it came for her time to rest when watch grew to an end. That problem came to an end when she stomach let out an growl, clearly the stew was not enough, Luke's lips cracked a small amused smile.

"Hungry?"

"A little..." she confessed.

"I don't blame you, we barely had enough beef stew for everyone." he kicked a second pebble. "Wasn't all that tasty anyone, I think good food is one of my top five things I miss, I don't mean to brag or nothing, but I make a mean pesto pasta." he stated. "Always did fancy pasta dishes, what about you? Favourite food?"

Clementine highly doubted a conversation about food would help her hunger, but it was something to talk about side from losing loved ones.

"I don't know, anything that doesn't come from a can sounds like heaven... but I guess chocolate would be one." Chocolate was sweet, it made people happy. She recalled teachers handing out heart shape chocolates filled with marshmallow filling on Valentine's days, it made her think of warm hot chocolate in cold days, chocolate cakes for birthdays...to her, chocolate meant happiness. The cabin crew kept a small stash that was put served in very small rations, chocolate was such a rare and precious find, when a bar or box of the sweet was found it was rationed to last longer.

Luke's lips curled into a pleased smile, his mood clearly perked up.

"I was hoping you would say that."

"Why?"

Luke reached into one of the backpacks, a murky brown one Clementine easily identified belonging also to Luke. Pulling his hand out he retrieved a clear plastic bags, upon closer inspection Clementine easily recognized its contents as the joyis sweet they had been conversing about. The bag contained three chocolate truffles wrapped in shiny blue wrappers, six slivers of various types of chocolates such as white, milk, and dark, four small chocolate squares she recognized from the smudge logo on them being a brand that filled them with filled with caramel, and lastly there were two small candy coated chocolates.

"I don't eat the chocolate rations all at once, I like to save them. Go on, have some." he open the bag and offered her some.

"I couldn't, it's yours after all." Clementine shook her head, trying to decline the offer.

"It's fine, you sound like you need it more then I do." he offered to her again. The aroma of cocoa and sugar drew her to slowly nodded her head. "Take one of each, you earned it."

She slowly nibbled on a sliver of white chocolate, the rest of her sweet treat was sitting peacefully in her lap.

"Better?" Luke asked.

"Better..." she replied through a mouth full of the sticky and sweet treat, her finger tips lightly smeared with the chocolate.

They next few hours were uneventful, Luke let her have the rest of his truffles, claiming he never did liked like truffles all that much. Her eyes drew heavy but she didn't dare to let it show or let out a yawn, if she could feel tiredness coming on she had a very small nibble of chocolate to give her a not very long lasting burst of energy. Within a few short moments and a gulp of water to wash down the sticky sweetness, her eyes grew tired to the point of her trying her hardest not to let her eyelids close, occasionally they would fall shut, only to have them open quickly in hopes Luke didn't take notice. Of course that ended in vein when Luke passed her a flannel sleeping bag.

"Go get some sleep, you been working hard."

"I'm not tired." she said passing the sleeping bag back to Luke. Her little lie failed when a loud and long yawn came from her. She cursed herself silently for doing that, Clementine was hoping to be more convincing. Luke chuckled merrily and rolled his eyes, thrusting the sleeping bag back at her.

"Not use trying to pull an all nighter, we need you at you're very best." Luke said. "I'll go wake Carlos in a bit to cover for you."

As much as Clementine would had liked to stay up and fulfill a larger part of the watch the allure of sleep was too tempting to turn down. With a sigh she tucked the bagged remains of chocolates under her arm and took the sleeping bag and got up.

"Night Luke..." she muttered through yet another yawn.

"Goodnight Clem."


End file.
